Gauntlet IV

From Sega Retro

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GauntletIV MDTitleScreen.png

Gauntlet IV
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Tengen
Developer:
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Developer(s) of original games: Atari Games
Peripherals supported: 4 Way Play, Team Player
Genre: Action, RPG (JP box says both; Sega of Japan master list only says Action)

















Number of players: 1-4
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP 		¥7,8007,800 T-48123
Sega Mega Drive
US 		$54.9554.95[1] T-48216
Sega Mega Drive
EU 		T-48216-50
Sega Mega Drive
PT 		MDJSE0188
Sega Mega Drive
AU

Gauntlet IV , released simply as Gauntlet (ガントレット) in Japan, is a 1993 Sega Mega Drive game published by Tengen and developed by M2. It serves as both, a port and a sequel to the 1985 arcade game Gauntlet by Atari Games, as it contains an Arcade Mode that faithfully reproduces the coin-op original, as well as three additional game modes, including an elaborate Quest Mode that features an actual storyline and implements RPG elements. The numbered title used for the versions released outside Japan was likely due to the existence of either, Gauntlet: The Third Encounter, an Atari Lynx game released in 1990, or Gauntlet III: The Final Quest, a European PC game released in 1991, both which were marketed as the third entry of the series, although neither were based on any arcade game (at the time Gauntlet II was the only arcade sequel to the original game).

It was the first game designed to support the Team Player, Sega's own 4-controller adapter for the Mega Drive, although it also supports the 4 Way Play.

Quest Mode Storyline

In the game's world, adventurers are people who go out to solve mysteries through adventure, turning the mysteries into legends. One mystery remains, called "The mystery protected by the old castle towers." These towers — representing the elements fire, earth, wind, and water — are enchanted with a curse which you, the adventurer willing to unravel the mystery, must break to enter the castle and find the rumored treasure inside.

Gameplay

B shoots your weapon, which will go to the edge of the screen unless it hits something.  START  will open the pause menu, which cycles between status, equipment, items, and password for continuing later with the D-pad. C uses a magic potion, collected during the course of the game. Holding A and pressing  START  "inserts a coin", adding health to the current player and decreasing the global credit (coin) count (both of which are configurable in the Options screen).

Gauntlet IV was marketed as being the first Mega Drive game to support both Sega's Team Player and Electronic Arts' 4 Way Play peripherals. Tengen may have also been working on their own four-player add-on during the game's development[5].

Modes

Gauntlet IV contains the original up-to-four-players arcade mode as well as three new modes:

  • Quest Mode: where players fight through five towers full of Gauntlet gimmicks
  • Battle Mode: where two or more players compete to survive in either a Normal Battle, Equal Battle, or Password Battle
  • Record Mode: where players try to run through the original levels to see who can get through first

These new modes are accompanied by new music composed by Masaharu Iwata and Hitoshi Sakimoto.

Production credits

Credits are split into two screens — the first screen (presumably) has the original arcade version credits:

  • Designer/Programmer: Ed Logg
  • Game Programmer: Bob Flanagan
  • Video Graphics: Sam Comstock, Susan G. McBride, Alan Murphy, Will Norble, Dave Pettigrew
  • Engineer: Pat McCarthy
  • Technician: Sae Oh, Cris Drobny
  • Sound Design: Hal Cannon, Earl Vickers
  • Cabinet Design: Ken Hata
  • Special Thanks To: Dave Theurer, Mike Albaugh, and many others


The second screen has the Mega Drive conversion credits:

  • Programmer: Tetsuya Abe
  • Graphic Converter: Masatoshi Kawasaki, Naoki Horii
  • Music Arrange & Compose: Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masaharu Iwata
  • Test Player: Gorou Sumiyoshi
  • Adviser: Jun Amanai, Takahiro Takeda
  • Special Thanks to: Chris Ryu Tang, Kawachi, Kibu, Maruchika, and many others


Magazine articles

Main article: Gauntlet IV/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Gauntlet IV/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
73 [6]
87 [7]
80 1998, p133
63 №249, p38
78 [8]
74 №11, p48/49
50 №1993-10, p42
80 [9]
65 №15, p40/41
90 №13, p32/33
88 №7, p22/23
94 №22, p76-79
94 [10]
85 [11]
73 №48, p74/75
83 №24, p58/59
78 [12]
78 №15, p12
Sega Mega Drive
 79
Based on
18 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
60
[13]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
83
[14]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
73
[15]
Dengeki Mega Drive (JP) NTSC-J
81
[16]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
80
[17]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
60
[18]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
63
[19]
Freak (IL)
87
[20]
GameFan (US) NTSC-U
76
[21]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
80
[22]
Game Power (IT) NTSC-U
74
[23]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
78
[24]
GamesMaster (UK) PAL
74
[25]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
50
[26]
Hyper (AU)
86
[27]
Igry Sega Luchshiye iz luchshikh. Vypusk 2 (RU)
80
[28]
Joypad (FR) PAL
75
[29]
MAN!AC (DE)
80
[3]
Mega (UK) PAL
90
[30]
Mega Action (UK) PAL
88
[31]
Mega Force (FR)
82
[32]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
68
[33]
MegaTech (UK) PAL
94
[34]
Magazina Igrushek (RU)
30
[35]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
94
[36]
Megazone (AU) PAL
72
[37]
Player One (FR)
85
[38]
Sega Magazin (DE)
71
[39]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
73
[40]
Sega Force Mega (UK) PAL
78
[41]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
87
[42]
Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL
78
[43]
Todo Sega (ES)
79
[44]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
73
[45]
VideoGames Shopper (UK) PAL
79
[46]
Video Games (DE) PAL
83
[47]
VideoGames (US) NTSC-U
80
[48]
Sega Mega Drive
 76
Based on
37 reviews

Gauntlet IV

Mega Drive, US
Gauntlet4 MD US Box.jpg
Cover
Gauntletiv md us cart.jpg
Cart
Gauntlet4 md us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US (cardboard)

Gauntletiv md us cart.jpg
Cart
Gauntlet4 md us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
Gauntlet4 MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
GauntletIV MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, JP
Gauntlet4 MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
Gauntlet MD JP CartTop.jpg
Gauntlet4 MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Gauntlet md jp manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, AU

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
✔
CRC32 f9d60510
MD5 5e8ec4c047ef4af15027e93b5358858f
SHA-1 d28e22207121f0e2980dd409b4fb24f9fb8967ae
1MB 1993-09 Cartridge (US/EU)
Sega Mega Drive
✔
CRC32 3bf46dce
MD5 840f9f6fd4f22686b89cfd9a9ade105a
SHA-1 26c26ee2bb9571d51537d9328a5fd2a91b4e9dc1
1MB 1993-08 Cartridge (US/EU)
Sega Mega Drive
✔
CRC32 f9872055
MD5 9aad96cc5364d2289f470b75c59907a5
SHA-1 30208982dd1f50634943d894e7458a556127f8e4
1MB 1993-09 Cartridge (JP)
Sega Mega Drive
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
Page

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 GamePro, "October 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 76
  2. ↑ Edge, "October 1993" (UK; 1993-08-19), page 22
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 MAN!AC, "12/93" (DE; 1993-11-10), page 50
  4. ↑ Sega Force Mega, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-14), page 46
  5. ↑ Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "November 1992" (UK; 1992-xx-xx), page 6
  6. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "October 1993" (JP; 1993-09-08), page 21 (23)
  7. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 83 (85)
  8. ↑ GamePro, "October 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 72 (76)
  9. ↑ GamePro, "October 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 50
  10. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-09-28), page 50-53 (50)
  11. ↑ Player One, "Janvier 1994" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 100/101 (100)
  12. ↑ Sega Force Mega, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-14), page 44-46 (44)
  13. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 85
  14. ↑ Aktueller Software Markt, "März 1994" (DE; 1994-02-07), page 27
  15. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "October 1993" (JP; 1993-09-08), page 23
  16. ↑ Dengeki Mega Drive, "August 1993" (JP; 1993-07-08), page 37
  17. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "November 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 46
  18. ↑ Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 54
  19. ↑ Famitsu, "1993-09-24" (JP; 1993-09-10), page 38
  20. ↑ Freak, "1/94" (IL; 1994-xx-xx), page 1
  21. ↑ GameFan, "Volume 1, Issue 10: September 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 14
  22. ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 1 January 1994" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 94
  23. ↑ Game Power, "Gennaio 1994" (IT; 199x-xx-xx), page 74
  24. ↑ GamePro, "October 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 74
  25. ↑ GamesMaster, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-21), page 48
  26. ↑ Hippon Super, "October 1993" (JP; 1993-09-03), page 42
  27. ↑ Hyper, "January 1994" (AU; 199x-xx-xx), page 65
  28. ↑ Igry Sega Luchshiye iz luchshikh. Vypusk 2, "" (RU; 2001-08-27), page 157
  29. ↑ Joypad, "Novembre 1993" (FR; 1993-1x-xx), page 76
  30. ↑ Mega, "October 1993" (UK; 1993-09-16), page 32
  31. ↑ Mega Action, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-04), page 22
  32. ↑ Mega Force, "Novembre 1993" (FR; 1993-11-10), page 126
  33. ↑ Mega Fun, "11/93" (DE; 1993-10-20), page 73
  34. ↑ MegaTech, "October 1993" (UK; 1993-09-20), page 76
  35. ↑ Magazina Igrushek, "4/1995" (RU; 1995-xx-xx), page 58
  36. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-09-28), page 50
  37. ↑ Megazone, "December 1993" (AU; 1993-12-01), page 30
  38. ↑ Player One, "Janvier 1994" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 100
  39. ↑ Sega Magazin, "November/Dezember 1993" (DE; 1993-11-03), page 26
  40. ↑ Sega Power, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-07), page 74
  41. ↑ Sega Force Mega, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-14), page 44
  42. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
  43. ↑ Sonic the Comic, "December 11th 1993" (UK; 1993-12-11), page 12
  44. ↑ Todo Sega, "Noviembre 1993" (ES; 1993-1x-xx), page 80
  45. ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 15
  46. ↑ VideoGames Shopper, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 40
  47. ↑ Video Games, "12/93" (DE; 1993-11-22), page 100
  48. ↑ VideoGames, "January 1994" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 82
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